Easy Cinnamon Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough
These easy cinnamon rolls start with a loaf of frozen bread dough, which lets you skip mixing and kneading the dough entirely. You roll it out, fill it with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, let the rolls puff up in the pan and finish them with a cream cheese icing that melts right down the sides.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Serves: 18
- Main Ingredients: loaf frozen white bread dough, Filling, softened butter or margarine, packed brown sugar, ground cinnamon, Icing, softened cream cheese, softened butter or margarine
- Why You'll Love It: The only thing better than homemade cinnamon rolls with that delicious cream cheese glaze is easy homemade cinnamon rolls made with a shortcut so you can enjoy them sooner!
I’ve been making cinnamon rolls for years, but only in the last few have I started using this shortcut. Making the dough from scratch is fun, but it takes a good while and it’s not easy on your hands, and a loaf of store-bought bread dough gives you soft, homemade-tasting rolls that anybody can pull off. If you’d still like to go fully from scratch, my dough recipe is in the FAQ below.
Why Frozen Bread Dough Works for Cinnamon Rolls
A loaf of frozen white bread dough is a plain yeast dough, so it rises and bakes up soft and fluffy just like a scratch dough would. You get to skip the measuring and kneading, but you still need to plan for the waiting, about an hour for the loaf to thaw and two to four hours for the rolls to rise, depending on how warm your kitchen is.
One loaf rolls out to about 9 by 16 inches. My from-scratch version rolls out to about 16 by 21, so these have a few less spirals, but they taste just the same.
Ingredients for Easy Cinnamon Rolls
- Frozen white bread dough: One loaf of a brand like Rhodes or your grocery store’s version works. It needs to be completely thawed before you roll it.
- Butter: Half goes on the dough under the filling and half goes into the icing, so soften the whole amount at once.
- Brown sugar and cinnamon: Light or dark brown sugar both work, or use a mix of brown and granulated sugar.
- Cream cheese: Let it soften so the icing beats up smooth. If you’re feeling ambitious, here’s how to make cream cheese at home with 2 ingredients.
You’ll find the exact amounts in the recipe card below.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Give the loaf about an hour on a plate at room temperature, and poke the center now and then to make sure it’s thawed all the way through before you roll it.
- I always roll the dough out on a sheet of waxed paper because cleanup is so much easier.
- Stop the filling about half an inch from the edges so the log seals when you roll it up.
- A serrated knife cuts clean one-inch slices without squashing the spirals.
- For a warm spot to rise in winter, heat the oven to 150°F, turn it off and set the covered rolls inside with the door cracked for about 30 minutes, then close it until they’ve doubled.
How to Make Easy Cinnamon Rolls
1Thaw the Dough
Set the loaf of frozen bread dough on a plate at room temperature until it’s completely thawed, about an hour.
2Mix the Filling
In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
3Roll Out the Dough
On a floured surface, roll the thawed dough into a rectangle about 9 by 16 inches.
4Butter and Fill
Spread half of the softened butter over the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over it and pat it down lightly, leaving a half-inch border.
5Roll Into a Log
Starting at a long side, roll the dough up into a log and press the seam lightly to seal it.
6Slice the Rolls
Use a serrated knife to cut one-inch slices and set them in a greased 9×13-inch baking dish.
7Let Them Rise
Cover the dish with plastic wrap and set it in a warm spot until the rolls double in size, two to four hours. In summer mine have risen on the deck in about an hour and a half, and in winter I set them on top of the washing machine while the dryer runs.
8Bake
Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 400°F for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
9Make the Icing
Beat the cream cheese, the rest of the butter, the powdered sugar and a little cinnamon until smooth and creamy. That pinch of cinnamon gives the icing a bit of oomph.
10Ice and Serve
Spread the icing over the warm rolls. When I’m serving them straight from the oven, I let everybody ice their own.
Making Cinnamon Rolls Ahead
For a slow morning, let the covered rolls rise overnight in the fridge instead of on the counter. They rise more slowly in the cold, so take them out about an hour before you want to bake and let them finish rising on the counter while the oven heats.
They heat up well, too, so a pan baked for dessert after supper makes a fine breakfast the next morning. For a holiday brunch, they’re right at home next to a bacon breakfast casserole or a pan of Cracker Barrel-style hash brown casserole.
More Sweet Rolls and Cinnamon Treats
Easy Cinnamon Rolls FAQs
How do I make cinnamon roll dough from scratch?
This dough replaces the loaf of frozen bread dough, and everything else stays the same, except you’ll roll it out to about 16 by 21 inches.
- 1 cup lukewarm milk
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut up
- 4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant or bread machine yeast
Add everything to a bread machine in the order listed and run the dough cycle, checking after about 10 minutes and adding a little flour or water until it’s smooth, not too sticky and not too dry. Without a bread machine, stir everything together in a large bowl, knead on a lightly oiled surface for five to eight minutes until smooth, then let it rise in an oiled, covered bowl in a warm place for about an hour, until it’s nearly doubled.
Why didn’t my cinnamon rolls rise?
A cool kitchen is almost always the reason, since frozen bread dough rises slowly when it’s cold. Give them more time, or use the warm oven trick in the tips above.
Can I use store-bought frosting?
Store-bought frosting works in a pinch. For a change from cream cheese icing, whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of strong coffee for a quick coffee glaze.
Easy Cinnamon Rolls with Frozen Bread Dough
Ingredients
- 1 loaf frozen white bread dough such as Rhode’s
Filling
- 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
Icing
- 3 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Instructions
- Place the loaf of dough on a plate and let sit at room temperature until thawed. Once thawed, roll out onto a floured surface to the size of about nine inches by sixteen inches. Spread butter/margarine over the dough.1 loaf frozen white bread dough, 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine
- In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the dough, stopping about 1/2 an inch away from the sides so it will seal. Carefully roll up the cinnamon roll dough into a log and press lightly to seal. Slice into one-inch slices with a serrated knife.1 cup packed brown sugar, 3 tbsp ground cinnamon
- Place in a greased 9×13 baking dish and cover with cling wrap. Place in a warm spot and allow to rise until doubled in size. Remove cling wrap and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Mix all icing ingredients together and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Spread over cinnamon rolls.3 ounces softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup softened butter or margarine, 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
Christy,
In the past I have had trouble slicing the rolls with any kind of knife. I solved that problem by using dental floss! (Straight out of the dispenser, of course!) Just wrap it around the loaf and pull the ends. Cuts it clean as a whistle.
what a GREAT idea!!!
Christy,
I tried making some more last night to bake this morning. I let them rise before refrigerating them…when I opened the fridge this morning they had shrunk back down! UGH! Ok, I really need to know your suggestion for premaking/freezing 🙂 Full time teacher and mother of 3 girls under 3…I need to make ahead…these are so good!
I finally found the time to make these (3 little girls all under 3!) this weekend and they are AMAZING! Thank you so much for the recipe. I can now officially say I make better cinnamon rolls than my mother in law! Ha! I do have a question though…concerning freezing. I love to do OAMC and these would probably work great. Which step would you freeze at? After rolling and cutting the rolls? After letting the cut rolls rise? Or would you bake them and freeze for thawing and warming at a later date? Thanks so much!
I made these for my husband’s birthday breakfast with your scratch dough recipe…I started them at night thinking I could put them in the fridge and they would rise overnight, which they didn’t, so I took them out and let them sit for 2 hours…still didn’t rise all that well, but I just went ahead and stuck them in the oven and they were great, not quite as big and fluffy as I had hoped, but still very yummy! In fact most people preferred them over the cake I made for the b’day party!
Oh Christy! I really messed these up today. And I had delusions of granduer about sharing some with neighbors, family, and stopping by work with some today. Mine turned out looking like pretzels rolled up with cinnamon and brown sugar on them, ugh! I guess they didn’t rise like they should. My 2 yr old and I put them together yesterday. I put in fridge took out 2 hrs before I put in oven today. I warmed up via the dryer method you mentioned:) But they were hard and didn’t rise properly. I have more in the fridge that I didn’t throw in the oven. Is there any hope for those?
While my husband and I were out Christmas shopping today I showed him your book in Sam’s and said,” I want this for Christmas. He said oh that is the place you go to looking at recipes on the computer all the time”. I said, “Yes, like today when I messed up the fool-proof cinnabuns.” 🙁 Hate when I goof up something that is fool proof. Well, any insight you have would be great. I would share a picture of what they looked like but it is just too sad.
No worries! They take a looooooong time to rise in the fridge. Loooooong time. I put mine in overnight and then still have to take them out and let them rise in a warm place for an hour or so. The cold makes it hard for the yeast to be active. If you wanted to cook them in the morning I’d let them rise at room temp til about doubled and then refrigerate.
There is definitely hope for the other ones you have. Put them on the counter for an hour or two until doubled then bake.
Sorry this sounds so short. In car with kids talking my head off but wanted to try to help!
Gratefully
Christy
Okay here I go again! 🙂
I think I figured out my problem from before. I covered them with foil and I don’t think it had a good seal and they got hard in fridge so didn’t rise. They are triple wrapped in saran wrap so keeping my fingers crossed!
Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Just a note, everyone knows that the heat from baking them removes all fat and calories. Right? (Or did I just dream that?) LOL
dying duck fit
that’s a new one on me- is that like turning himself inside out like he was 2 and got a toy for christmas that he had been begging for? LOL
what is SO SO sad is that was the key delight in a car show my dad took me to in HS, and we all had to have our pix with it…SIGH, southerners, right? LOL
LOVE this recipe!